Filing cabinet drawer lock



May 5, 1959 p. R. HOWARD 2,885,251

FILING CABINET DRAWER LOCK Filed July 8. 1955 INVENTOR. Don R, Howev- BY C 41f.

United States Patten 2,sss,2s1 FILING CABINET DRAWER LOCK Don R. Howard, Worcester, Mass., assignor to The Wright Line, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 8, 1955, Serial No. 520,741 3 Claims. (Cl. 312222) This invention relates to a filing cabinet drawer lock, and more particularly to an individual lock for each drawer in a cabinet which is adapted to hold a set of file cards or various types of equipment used in an accounting or card record department.

Various types of cabinets are used in business ofl'lces for holding either file cards carrying tabulated data or electrical and other types of equipment that are employed with the business machines which sort the cards and tabulate their information. For example, a cabinet of the type shown in the copending application of Raymond L. Myers, Serial #309,283, filed September 12, 1952, may comprise various arrangements of shelves and drawers which are used frequently for storing business machine cards and equipment. Such a cabinet may have quite wide drawers, and often two of the cabinets are arranged at opposite sides of a desk so that an operator may have frequent and ready access to the drawers on either side. These cabinet drawers are often loaded with heavy materials, and vibration of the building or carelessness in closing the drawer may result in the drawer rolling to an open position; and if all of the drawers should do that, the cabinet would tip over. Moreover, if a lock should be provided on the drawer which is located centrally, this would require that the operator reach through an inconvenient distance for unlocking a drawer and thus making its use diflicult.

The primary object of this invention is to overcome such problems and to provide a cabinet drawer lock which is so constructed that it may be operated by merely pulling outwardly on a lock controlling lever on the drawer.

A further object is to lock each drawer individually in position by a construction which is controlled by grasping the drawer front at any position and pulling forward on it, which both unlocks the drawer and serves to move the drawer out by a single continuous motion of the operators arm. Other objects will be apparent in the following disclosure.

In accordance with my invention, a cabinet having a drawer movably mounted therein, such as on slideways or roller bearings, is provided with a lock engageable part, such as a recessed wall, and a locking bolt is mounted on the drawer in position to move laterally into and away from a releasable locking relationship with said part. The bolt is released by means of a swinging lever, such as a drawer front, pivoted on a horizontal axis on the drawer, which is readily accessible for manual operation, and the lever is connected preferably through a spring urged lever system with the bolt so that the single act of swinging the lever forward both releases the lock and opens the drawer.

Referring to the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is an elevation, with parts broken away, of a portion of a drawer arranged for mounting in a file cabinet and with the bolt and its operating parts in a locking position;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section showing the r: HQ

movable drawer parts and locking mechanism in a locked position;

Fig. 3 is a similar section with the parts moved to an unlocked position;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the drawer front walls and a portion of the cabinet wall, and with the movable lock parts shown in a plan view;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 and corresponding with the positions of the parts in Fig. 3 whereby the lock is shown in a withdrawn position; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail showing the spring which moves the bolt operating parts to positions which permit the lock (not shown) to be moved to a locking position, this spring being omitted in Figs. 4 and 5.

A file cabinet drawer may be a receptacle mounted in a cabinet of the type shown in said Myers application and to which reference may be had for details of cabinet structure. As shown, the drawer comprises an inner front wall 10, two parallel side walls, 11, a rear wall (not shown) and a bottom 12, which are suitably secured together, as by welding, to form an open topped receptacle adapted to hold file cards or trays of file cards or business machine equipment or other articles as may be desired. The drawer is adapted to be mounted with other drawers for sliding in a suitable cabinet construction, shown diagrammatically as comprising a shelf 13 and a side wall 14.

The lock comprises a releasable movable bolt or locking member 16 mounted on the drawer. It is preferably a rectilinearly slidable bolt mounted on the drawer for a lateral sliding movement. This bolt has its outer locking end 17 beveled and positioned for sliding through an opening 18 in one drawer side 11 and into engagement with a locking part on the cabinet, such as a hole 19 (Fig. 4) in the side cabinet wall 14, which prevents the drawer from being accidentally opened. To manipulate this locking bolt 16, I have provided the drawer with a swinging lever, such as a swinging front wall 20, pivoted on a horizontal axis on the drawer which cooperates with a lever system to slide the bolt when the lever or front wall is tilted from the position of Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 3. This lever is preferably shaped of a steel plate to form a false drawer front 20 which is pivotally mounted at its bottom by a suitable horizontal hinge structure, such as the butt hinge 21 illustrated comprising two wings having spaced curls or knuckles shaped to form cylindrical bearings for a hinge pin, as is standard construction in cabinet hinges. The wings of the hinge are suitably welded, one to the front under side portion of the bottom 12 (Fig. 2) and the other to the top of the inturned bottom flange 23 of the pivoted front 20. The rearwardly turned flange 23 of the front 20 provides space within which the lock manipulating parts are mounted.

The inner fixed front wall 10 of the drawer has a forwardly projecting top portion turned upwardly to provide a vertical flange 24 at its outer end. The tilting drawer front 20 is bent in a U shape at its upper end which terminates in a rearwardly projecting flange 25 having a downwardly turned edge portion 26. It will be seen by inspection of Figs. 2 and 3 that the edge portion 26 is located rearwardly of the upturned flange 24 of the drawer front and that the hinged front 20 may be tilted only to the extent provided by the front and its flange portion 26 contacting the opposite sides of the vertical flange 24.

The bolt 16 is urged to a locking position by the coiled tension spring 28 suitably secured to the bolt and an L-shaped slide plate Welded to the front of the drawer wall 10. This L-shaped member may have a forwardly projecting flange 29 which holds the flat portion 30 of the lock 16 in position but permits its sliding freely as required. The spring is arranged at an angle to urge the lock 16 towards the wall 10 as well as forward '3: towards the locking recess 18. The lock bar 16 is shown as a piece of strap iron twisted at 31 so that the locking edge is vertical and the operating portion 30 is horizontal.

In order to withdraw the slide bolt 16 from its locked position against the tension of the spring 28, I have provided an operating crank arm lever 32 made of a rod bent into somewhat of a U shape. It has a vertical central section 33 mounted inside of a bearing clip 34 which straddles and forms a pivot for the lever. The lever portion below the clip has a forwardly projecting arm 35 and a down-turned pivot pin 36. This pin is pivoted in an opening in the portion 30 of the slide bolt. The operating lever 32 has at its top a forwardly projecting arm 37. When the arm 37 of the operating lever is swung forward (Fig. l) or towards the right in Figs. 2 and 3, this serves to swing the arm 35 of the lever laterally to retract the bolt against the effort of the spring 28.

The pivoted false front 20 has a U-shaped clip 40 welded to its rear face and the lever arm 37 slidably engages the inside of that clip. When the false front 20 is swung forward, the inside of the clip pulls forward on the lever arm 37 and thus rocks the opposite lever arm 35 and retracts the bolt. The clip is engaged by a U-shaped spring 4-2 having end portions in a plane, with the right hand end (Fig. 1) secured beneath a clip 43 which has its ends welded to the front of the wall 14 The left hand end 44 (Fig. 6) of this flat spring 42 is spaced from the inner face of the wall 10, so that the clip 40 may be inserted beneath that spring as well as the lever arm 37 prior to insertion of the hinge pin of the butt hinge 21 or the hinge being welded in place. The resiliency and shape of the leaf spring 42 are such that the spring thrusts against the inner face of the clip 40 and urges the false front 20 rearwardly into the vertical position shown in Fig. 2.

Various constructional details may be employed in the manufacture of the drawer. For example, the sides 11 may have outwardly and downwardly turned flange portions 46 and associated runways which serve for mounting the drawer on the standard type of roller bearing slides. The false front 20 may extend as indicated by the dotted outline to cover that flange. The inner edge (Fig. of the bolt 17 is so beveled that after the drawer has been opened and the locking end 17 is in a projected position, it can ride against the inner face of the cabinet wall 14 and fall into place in the locking hole 19 when the drawer has been fully closed. The outer edge of the lock engages the forward side of the hole 19 and prevents the drawer from moving outwardly except when the lock has been released.

It will be observed that the upstanding flange 46 of the front 20 serves as the only hand hold on the front of the cabinet for opening the drawer. Also, a suitable space is left between the entire upper edge of this flange and the bottom portion 23 of the file drawer or the cabinet face thereabove so that ones fingers may be readily inserted in place and the drawer moved. This wall 2%) may be the only front wall for the receptacle, and in that case the stop 24 may be mounted on the side wall of the drawer. Also, the front and rear stops 24 and 26 are so spaced that the lock will be released by the time that the tilting drawer front has contacted the front stop 24 so that the movement of the operators arm is continuous and uninterrupted in unlocking and opening the drawer, whereby the operator is not aware of accomplishing these two steps in a single forward motion of the tiltable drawer front.

When the user .of the cabinet wishes to open the drawer which is locked by engagement of the beveled lock end 17 in the hole 19 of the cabinet wall, he merely inserts the fingers of either hand behind the upstanding flange 46 of the false front top and pulls forward on it against the slight pressure of the flat or leaf spring 42 which urges the false front 20 towards a vertical position. As the front 20 swings forward, the clip 40 thereon pushes against the lever arm 37 and swings the pivot pin 36 toward the right (Fig. 1) and thus withdraws the lock bolt. When ultimately released, the front 20 returns to a vertical position. The top flange 46 may be grasped anywhere along its entire edge by an operator standing or seated in front or at either side. The lock is operated quickly and easily, and the operator makes only the single continuous motion of pulling the drawer open. By the time that the front flange 26 has struck the flange 24 of the drawer, the lock has been released and the continuous forward movement of the false front 20 serves to draw the drawer out smoothly and without interruption. The operator does not make any conscious effort to release a lock before the drawer can open.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made in this construction and that the disclosure herein of the principles and a preferred embodiment of the invention is not to be interpreted as imposing unnecessary limitations on the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a file cabinet having a drawer slidably mounted therein and a locking part, a lock for individually locking the drawer shut comprising a horizontally slidable bolt mounted on the drawer for sliding movement laterally of said drawer for releasably engaging said part, a drawer front mounted at its bottom on the drawer beneath said bolt to tilt about a horizontal axis, a crank mounted on said drawer for pivoting about a vertical axis having one end engageable by the upper portion of said tilting front and the other end engaging said bolt to slide the bolt to released position when the drawer front is pulled forward to open the drawer.

2. A file cabinet as defined in claim 1 comprising in addition resilient means for urging the bolt into locking position and for urging the drawer front rearwardly.

3. A file cabinet as defined in claim 2 comprising in addition front and rear stops to limit the tilting movement of the drawer front, said front being manually engageable along its front edge and being tiltable from a vertical position in which said bolt is in locking position to a forwardly tilted position in which said bolt is in released position by the time the front has contacted the front stop so as to provide a continuous movement of the drawer front in releasing the lock and opening the drawer as a single uninterrupted manual effort.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,194 Hueing Apr. 12, 1904 1,905,037 Matthews Feb. 27, 1930 1,918,563 Roedding Dec. 11, 1931 1,939,487 Brainard Dec. 12, 1933 2,232,629 North Feb. 18, 1941 2,689,777 Wolters Sept. 21, 1950 

